GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Contents
Introduction
iv
What are General Purpose Packages, why
do we use them and what are they used for?
1
Storing Data in Your GPP
4
The Human-Computer Interface
8
Integrated Packages
13
What do you need to know about the Packages?
17
What do you need to know about Graphics?
25
What do you need to know about Spreadsheets?
29
What do you need to know about Databases?
35
Desktop Publishing
40
Presentation/Multimedia Packages
44
Creating a Web Page
50
What is an Expert System?
54
General Purposes Packages in the Workplace
56
The Law
59
GPP Questions
64
GPP Answers
74
Answers to Exercises
80
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
iii
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
What do you need to know
about Graphics?
Feature
What you need to know
Enter text
Entering text in a graphics package is very useful. It lets you
label graphics!
Draw graphic
You can use the drawing tools to create your own graphic.
Common tools
Most graphics packages have a similar set of tools for
drawing lines, circles and rectangles for pouring colour into a
graphic and for drawing freehand.
Alter tool attributes Changing the attributes of a tool such as the
Line tool means changing, for example the
colour or the thickness of the line.
Scale graphic
Scaling means changing the dimensions of a graphic by
increasing or decreasing the height/width of the graphic.
Rotate graphic
This lets you spin your graphic round. You can control the
rotation either by dragging the graphic round using handles
or by specifying the number of degrees.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
25
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Cropping a graphic
When you crop a graphic you cut out the part of the graphic that you do not
want, usually by selecting the cropping tool and dragging the handles at the
edge of the graphic.
This graphic has white lines down
the side.
This one has been cropped to get
rid of the white lines.
Scanning a graphic
Once you load up your scanning software it will give you a series of choices
that give you control
over exactly how the
scan is processed.
You can choose:
•
the number of
colours in the scan
•
the resolution of
the scan: the
number of pixels
per square inch
•
the type of file
that your scanned
image is saved as.
All of these can affect the quality of the scanned image and the size of the file
in which it is stored.
26 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Editing the scanned graphic
Now that the graphic has been scanned you can load it into a graphics
package and begin to edit it. Most graphics packages have features such as:
‘Crop’, ‘Change colours’, ‘Layer graphic objects one on top of another’ and
‘Zoom’, as well as enabling you to add effects such as ‘Soften’, ‘Sharpen’ and
others that you can see in the menu above.
Exercise 12
This graphic image on the left is being edited
below using the ‘Zoom’ feature then a
combination of the editing tools in a paint
package. Briefly describe the functioning of
four of the graphic editing tools you have used.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
27
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Exercise 13
1. Use a selection of the tools available to produce a suitable images, for
example the shape of a dancer, a band, a CD-player, or spotlights.
2. Use the infill tools and colour menus to make your graphic attractive.
3. Scale and rotate your images until they look eye catching.
4. Save the file as ‘discographics’ and then print it out.
Use your graphics package to produce illustrations to be used to advertise
the school disco.
5. Produce a template for a handbill advertising the school discos. Set out
the styles, text sizes and fonts as well as margins and text alignment.
Save the template as ‘handbill’.
6. Scan in a suitable graphic, edit it by, for example, cropping it, scaling it
or changing the colours, then save it.
7. Open up the template and use it to create a handbill to advertise the
senior school disco. Enter suitable text about the location, timing and
cost then insert the scanned graphic.
8. Save the file.
9. Print out the finished handbill.
28 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
What do you need to know
about Spreadsheets?
Spreadsheet software lets you enter and store numeric data and perform
calculations on it using formulae.
Spreadsheets are organised into rows and columns.
Formula
Column
Row
Spreadsheet terms
Feature
Cell
What you need to know
Each location in a spreadsheet is called a cell. Each cell
has its own address made up of a column letter and a row
number: C7, B8, D24.
Row
Rows are numbered from 1 upwards.
Column
Columns have their own letter: A, B, C, D, E, F, etc.
Value
A value is a number or a formula.
Text
Text is entered to label cells, rows and columns or even to give
lengthy explanations of what is going on in the spreadsheet.
Insert row or column This feature lets you put rows or columns into your
spreadsheet to make room for more data or formulae.
Alter the width
of a column
If you have a lot of data to put into a column, this
feature lets you widen it to make enough room.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
29
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Feature
What you need to know
Alter cell
format/attributes
When you set up the attributes of a cell you are defining
the properties of that cell, the format of the data it will
hold. Common cell attributes are: time, scientific,
percentage, date, currency. This graphic shows examples of
the various data formats that can be set up.
Formula
A formula sets out the calculation that has to be carried out
on data. You should be able to recognise and use simple
formulae such as:
A4 + A5
B6 –B7
C6/C8
D6 * D9
You should also know these simple functions.
= sum(A1:A6) This calculates the total of the values in
cells A1 to A6.
= average(B3:B12). This calculates the average of the
values in cells B3 to B12.
=
max(A4:A10) This finds the largest value in the range
A4 to A10.
= min(B8:B16) This finds the smallest value in the range
A4 to A10.
30 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Feature
What you need to know
Replication
This simply means copying a formula down a column or
across a row, usually by entering a simple key press, for
example to copy down a column simply highlight the
column and enter a key press such as Ctrl D.
Charting
You can turn numbers in a spreadsheet into a chart. This
makes it easy to see what they mean at a glance.
Automatic and
manual calculation
Automatic calculation is usually the default setting on a
spreadsheet. That means that your spreadsheet will carry
out its calculations just as soon as you have entered the
data and the formulae. You can switch off automatic
calculation. This means you have to intervene and
manually give the spreadsheet the instruction to perform
the calculation.
Cell protection
By switching on cell protection you make sure that the
data or formula in that cell is not changed by accident.
Before it can be changed, cell protection needs to be
switched off.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
31
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Feature
What you need to know
Relative referencing
When a formula is replicated across a row using relative
referencing the formula will change according to the cells it
is copied into. For example the formula: sum(B6:B9) when
replicated across a row into columns C and D will change
to sum(C6:C9) and sum(D6:D9).
Absolute referencing Using absolute referencing the formula remains the same
no matter where in the spreadsheet you replicate it to.
Most spreadsheets use $ to mark an absolute reference. For
example: The formula: average($B$6:$B$9) will remain
the same even if you replicated it to column C and
column D.
Formula using
conditions
The structure of an if function is as follows.
if(condition, true, false).
This means: ‘If the condition is met, the first action is carried
out. If it is not met, the second action is carried out.’
Let us take the example of an ‘If ’ formula that is being
used to calculate a bonus for a salesman. The cell
containing the bonus has this formula entered.
if(D20>=50, 100, ‘no bonus’)
If cell D20 has a value greater than or equal to 50, then the
cell containing the formula is given the value 100.
If the value is less than 50, ‘no bonus’ is entered into the cell.
Let us look at a spreadsheet and check out some of these
features we have just been looking at.
This cell has cell protection
activated to protect the
important data it holds on
the VAT rate.
This formula uses both:
• absolute referencing to refer to
cell B18 that holds the VAT rate
• relative referencing to refer to
the costs held in cells C6, C7,
C8, C9 and C10.
32 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Fully labelled charting
Here are the highlighted grades
Charts can have series of labels each giving its own piece of information
about the chart. If you develop a series of charts for example for all the class
results in fourth year then:
•
•
•
•
•
you can have a label to identify the series
you can insert a label for each individual chart
you can have a title for each chart
both X and Y axis can have labels
you can even label points on the chart.
This window lets you set up labels showing values and percentages.
Exercise 14
1. List the labels a fully labelled chart should have.
2. Your teacher will supply you with a spreadsheet file. Open it up and
chart the data, labelling it as fully as your package will allow.
3. If your application has a ‘Label Wizard’, use that to help you.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
33
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Exercise 15: Spreadsheet practical exercise
Create a spreadsheet to hold the results of class 4A.
1. In cell B13 enter the word ‘Total’.
2. In cell C13 enter the formula to
calculate the total number of passes.
3. In cell C15, enter the formula to
calculate the percentage of grade
1s. (Your teacher will help you
with this.)
4. Do the same for cell C16 to calculate
the percentage of grade 3s.
5. Change the attributes of the cells
C15 and C16 so that they hold
numbers up to two decimal places.
6. Insert a row to hold the
percentage of grade 2s.
7. Use the charting features to chart
the number of passes in each
grade 1–7.
8. Ask your teacher to check your
formulae and your chart. Your teacher may ask you to print out your
spreadsheet and chart.
9. Label rows to hold the percentage of grades 4, 5, 6 and 7 and use a
combination of relative and absolute reference to replicate the
formula down column C.
10. Fully label your chart.
11. Ask your teacher to check your formulae and your fully labelled chart.
34 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
What do you need to know
about Databases?
A database is a collection of related information made up of Records that in
turn are made up of Fields.
File
Record 1
Record 2
Record 3
Record 4
Field 1
Field 2
Field 3
A File is a collection of Records such as a file of names, addresses and phone numbers.
Records hold the data on one person or object in the file. For example you
could have a record for each pupil in a school.
A Field stores one piece of data such as the name field, the address field, the
phone number field.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
35
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Features
What you need to know
Add/create records When you set up a database you create new records and fill
the data into the fields. If you need to, you can always add
another record.
Edit records
Once you have created your records you can go back and
change the data held there.
Create fields
When the database is
being set up you can
create different types of
fields to match the
different types of data
you are going to store
in the database.
You can create the
following types of field:
• Numeric
• Text
• Graphic
• Date
• Time.
Search on one field This is a simple search, for example search on the name
field for ‘MacIntosh’. Note: some packages use the term
‘Query’ or ‘Find’ for a search.
Sort on one field
This puts the
records into
order using
the contents
of one field,
for example
sort into
order using
the date field.
Alter a
record format
You can alter the format of a record in several ways:
change a field type so that it can hold different type of data,
delete a field altogether.
36 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Features
What you need to know
Alter input format
Change the input screen. The two most common input
screens are column/table and card layouts.
Column
Card
Alter output format You can change the way data is output by changing the
layout from column to a card layout. You can even decide
which fields are output and where on the screen they appear,
what colour they have, etc.
Simple searches on Finding information on the internet or a CD-ROM is
a CD-ROM or
straightforward. All you have to do is to enter your search
the internet
and press ‘Return’ or click ‘Go’. The search engine does
the rest.
Search on more
Sometimes searching on one field gives you too many
than one field
results. Searching on the name field for ‘McKenzie’ might
produce a dozen records. To narrow down the number of
results you can search on more than one field, for example
searching on the Name field for ‘McKenzie’, the Address
field for ‘Dowanhill Rd’ and the Date field for ‘12/11/2003’.
Sort on more than You can use more than one field to sort your records into
one field
order. Sorting on the name field and the address field means
that if two people have the same name then they will be
sorted into order according to their address. So McKenzie in
Dowanhill St. will be placed before McKenzie in Hillhead St.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
37
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Features
What you need to know
Computed field
You use computed fields to store a formula that carries out
calculations on data held in your database file.
Keywords are used to identify records in a file. Each record
is given a unique keyword, stored in a key field. This makes
searching for records much simpler. If you know the
keyword, such as an account number, it saves you carrying
out complex searches on several fields. A search using the
keyword will take you straight to the record you want.
A simple search is a simple straightforward search
for an item that is easily found.
Keyword
Simple search on
a CD-ROM or
the internet
As an
example you
could search
for ‘Australia’
on a CDROM or the
internet. The
problem
would be
that you
would find
lots of
entries. In
fact a search
for Australia on the internet will return hundreds of
thousands of results; too many to look through. So, what
you really need to do is carry out a complex search.
Complex search on Complex searches are searches where there are two or more
a CD-ROM or
conditions in the search, for example a search for all cities
the internet
in Australia with a
population >
1,000,000. CDROMs help you put
together complex
searches with
several parts or
conditions in your
search. Because the
search has several
conditions, it will
return fewer results.
38 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Exercise 16
1. What is the main reason for using complex searches?
2. Why should you include as many conditions as you can in your search?
3. Write out the combination of conditions you would use to find out
about Scottish islands in the Inner Hebrides except Mull or Coll. Carr y
out the search either using a CD-ROM or on the internet.
Exercise 17: Database practical exercise
Create a database to hold the details about five patients in a dentist’s surgery.
Each record in the file should contain the following fields: ‘Surname’,
‘Firstname’, ‘Address’, ‘Date of birth’, ‘Extractions’, ‘Fillings’, ‘Crowns fitted’.
Here is an example of the first two records.
Carry out the following tasks.
1. Add another three records for the following new patients: ‘Jean McKenzie’,
‘Alec Wallace’, ‘Margaret McFarrell’. You can make up your own data for
the rest of the fields.
2. Sort the file on the Surname field.
3. Add a field to hold data on the number of checkups.
4. Sort the file on the Surname and the Firstname fields.
5. Search for the record for ‘Eric McKenzie’ in ‘Ullapool Rd’.
6. (a) Add a new field to contain a patient number. (b) Enter the following
patient numbers: 6701, 6702, 6703, 6704, 6705.
7. If your database software has the facility to do so, alter the database by
adding a computed field to hold the total number of fillings and extractions
each patient has had.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
39
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Desktop Publishing
A desktop publishing (DTP) package is a package designed to set up
professional looking pages that contain text and graphics. DTP packages are
used to set up pages for magazines, books, leaflets, newsletters. They have
features that help the user control the position of the text and graphics, such as:
•
onscreen rulers
•
frames
•
text boxes.
Wizard
Using a wizard
is a great way to
start producing a
DTP document.
A wizard will
often offer the
user a choice of
templates that
have the
structure, style
and even colour
of the page
already in place.
It will then step
the user through
the process of
completing the
page by entering
the text or
inserting
graphics from a
clip art file.
40 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Importing and scaling graphics
You can scan in graphics, download them from the internet or transfer them from
your digital camera. They can then be stored in folders on your hard disk or on
a CD. You can then import the graphics easily into your document and scale
them to any size you want. For a definition of scaling graphics see page 25.
This file is being imported
simply by selecting itt
andthen choosing insert.
This example shows how easy
it is to scale a graphic by
adjusting the height and
width percentage.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
41
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Importing text
Setting up a text box is easily done. You can use the rulers at the side of the
page to enable you to position the text box exactly where you want it then
import the text using the menus and the pointer.
Once you have all the objects on your page you can change the page layout
by changing the position of the objects on the page, or by altering the
structure of the page layout itself.
These graphics give a good example of how the layout of a page can be
altered and the position of objects changed.
42 STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
GENERAL PURPOSE PACKAGES
Wrapping text around your graphics
This is a useful feature. It enables you to wrap your text around a graphic.
This is a very effective way of relating the text to the graphic and describing
what is going on in the
graphic. Here we can see
several different ways you can
wrap text around a graphic.
Exercise 18
1. Using a desktop publishing package choose a template for a document.
2. Use this template to produce a document and, using your jotter or your
word processor, write down how the template helps you.
3. Import some graphics into your document. What does ‘importing a
graphic’ mean?
4. Change the dimensions of your graphics by scaling them.
5. Crop some of your graphics and explain how this improves the document.
6. Use the text wrap feature to wrap text around your graphics.
7. Use your online help to find out about the features of your desktop
publishing package that can help you:
(a) position your text and graphics with precision
(b) alter the layout. Use your online help.
8. Use these features to alter your document.
STANDARD GR ADE COMPUTING STUDIES
© Learning and Teaching Scotland
43